"Soo Gi, can you sing the first verse again? You were a bit off key at the start," Hanbin called.

"Yes, oppa." You nodded, obediently standing up and going straight to the recording booth.

You were a trainee in one of the top three entertainment companies in Korea, which is YG. You've been training for almost two years already with two of your closest friends, and you're itching to debut. However, your parents taught you that patience is a virtue (even though you're impatient as hell), and you're willing to wait (but not too long) until your CEO thinks you're ready to debut.

 As you entered the booth, you felt someone staring at you, and sure enough, when you turned around, a certain ebony-haired boy was eyeing you closely, his head cocked to the side and his brows furrowed. You stared back, but you soon decided to shrug him off, and continued walking to the recording stand. You put on the headphones, and waited for the cue as the instrumental played.

    It's crazy how your heart just has a mind of it's own, yeah
    Like when it smiled and makes the choice on it's own

As you sang your line, you found yourself looking back at the ebony-haired boy, who was now talking to another guy, and laughing. Seeing him laugh, your lips, as if they had a mind of their own, automatically broke into a smile.

    Well the funny thing about this heart of mine
    It knows what it wants

He looks nice when he laughs, you thought. You rarely ever see him laugh. He always had his trademark sass face on. You've always found him annoying. But even then, you still can't take your eyes off of him.

    But see the crazy thing is
    My mind tries to deny it
    But boy I can't fight what I know

He was way beyond you, and besides, he's about to debut. He won't want any relationship to get in the way of his training. You scolded yourself on a daily (sometimes even hourly) basis because you think too much of him, when you could've been focusing on other things, like singing, and improving your dancing.

"Soo Gi? Are you there?" Hanbin called. You suddenly blinked.

"Ah, yes, oppa. Sorry." You smiled sheepishly. See, you were always lost in a trance when thinking about him. Your eyes flicked back to him and he was now staring at you. Your eyes widened, as if a deer caught in headlights, so you pretended to fix your hair, hoping that he didn't see you staring earlier.

"We're good now, Soo Gi. You're done for the day." Hanbin smiled.

You thanked him and exited the recording booth. You wanted to sneak a peek at him, but you saw him staring at you. Embarrassed, you moved faster, grabbing your bag and making a beeline for the canteen.

"So, how was recording today?" Mi Jae, one of your best friends, asked as she placed her tray beside your and plopped down on the seat.

"I had to repeat the first verse, but yeah, it was fine." You nonchalantly replied while picking on your food, "Where's Ji Ae? I thought she was with you?"

"She had vocal lessons with Jinhwan oppa." Mi Jae frowned. "Yah, what's with you? Did anything happen today?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing." You shook your head, still picking at the vegetables on your plate.

"It's about him, isn't it?" 

You choked on your peas, coughing while shaking your head. The girl beside you immediately handed you a glass of water while patting your back and suppressing her laughter.

"It's not about him!" You indignantly cried, glaring at your best friend.

"Woah, chill out girl. Why so defensive?" She snickered. 

"I am not defensive!" 

"But you sound like you are," a blue-haired girl suddenly sat in front of you with her eyebrows raised. "What's up?"

"Nothi-" 

"Soo Gi is being defensive when I asked about him." Mi Jae cut you off. You glared at her, hoping to scare her in some way. Unfortunately, she was used to all your tricks, and just stuck a tongue out at you.

"Why don't you just confess to him already so you two can be a couple and leave everyone in peace?" Ji Ae groaned. "Even Jinhwan oppa is getting frustrated because of you two." She whispered the last part.

"I don't know, Ji Ae," you sighed.

It was your first day as a trainee. You walked in the corridors of the YG training center, and you were in absolute awe. You were so excited of the thought of being a famous idol, that the hardships of being a trainee that you saw on television were forgotten. You walk past a glass door, and you saw that there were trainees there as well, so you decided to take a look. You saw them dancing, and you were so amazed by their synchronization. You knew that you needed to go already, but you decided to take one last look, and that's when you first laid your eyes on him. He was wearing a plain black shirt with the sleeves folded, as if the shirt was sleeveless. He wore a black cap backwards, and he had piercings on both ears. He looked like a bad boy, in your opinion, but you thought he danced well. You didn't exactly know why, but he undoubtedly caught your eye the first moment you saw him.

Two weeks had passed since you first arrived at YG, but for you, it already feels like a year. You would wake up early in the morning to work out, then head straight to the training center for dance lessons in the morning, vocals in the afternoon, and then dance again until late at night. Sometimes, you'd even be training for rap. You had the talent, they said, so why not enhance your ability? You went inside the dance studio to warm up and stretch when you heard the door open. Your head snapped to the door, and saw the very same guy who caught your eye.

"I thought I reserved this room." He said, frowning a bit. He did seem a bit annoyed by your mere presence, and that made you annoyed as well. 

"How would I know? It doesn't have your name on it." You replied while tightening your shoelaces.

"Yah, do you know who I am?" He demanded, raising the tone of his voice.

You stopped what you were doing and stared at him, "No. Am I supposed to? Besides, unless you're an idol that YG debuted while I was asleep, then I have no interest in knowing who you are." 

Well, you really didn't mean that. You wanted to know who he is, but his arrogance was a complete turn off, so you decided to get sassy at him.

You saw him glare at you, but you just ignored him and your music so you could start dancing. Defeated, he just rolled his eyes and left you on your own, but not before slamming the door so hard you were afraid that the glass would break.

Three months passed by quickly, and by then, you had made two best friends, Mi Jae and Ji Ae. They were trainees as well, and they had the same interests as you, so you three clicked immediately. Surprisingly, YG also decided to have you girls start training with the soon-to-be members of YG's newest boy group, iKon. As the day of the training came, you made sure that you were looking your best. These guys could be your future sunbaes, so you better get your game on, Soo Gi, you told yourself.

"Hi, I'm Shin Soo Gi. Please take care of me." You introduced yourself as you bowed in front of seven young men. You wanted to look at them, but that would be disrespectful, so you kept your eyes on the ground.

"You will be training with these girls from now on. Train them hard. I'm leaving them in your responsibility, Hanbin-ah." YG said after all the girls finished introducing themselves. He left shortly after that. 

"Welcome to our practice room." The one beside Hanbin greeted with a bunny smile. "Since you're all younger than me, I think, you should call me oppa. I'm Jiwon, but people call me Bobby." You could barely see his eyes as he walked towards you three and held his hand out for a shake.

"He is B.I.," Jiwon, or Bobby-oppa pointed at Hanbin, "but his real name is Hanbin."

"That small guy over there is Jinhwan-hyung." Jinhwan glared at him.

"Hyung, we can introduce ourselves just fine." A cute, crescent-eyed boy said, smiling brightly at he walked towards us. "I'm Donghyuk. How old are you? You look like we're the same age."

"I'm actually 16," you answered. "We're all 16 years old."

Donghyuk grinned, "I'm 17, so I'm still your oppa."

"Stop flirting and get on with the practice." My head snapped up. I know that voice. That irritating voice. Oh no, don't tell me he's part of iKon.

"Junhoe, stop being so grumpy and introduce yourselves to our new friends."

So that's his name.

As time passed you found yourself getting to know Junhoe more, and you even got used to his arrogance and cockiness. You two were still a bit awkward around each other, but nonetheless, you were friends, and that was the start for you.

"Soo Gi, turn off your alarm, for goodness' sake! It's not even 5 am yet." Mi Jae groaned, throwing a pillow at you.

You, however, got up and got ready. You wanted to be at the practice studio as early as possible, so you could practice in peace.

You smiled at yourself as you entered the quiet building. "Aah, it's so nice when it's quiet here," you told yourself. You entered a vacant room and started doing stretches. You were about to start the music when the door opened, and a surprised (and sweaty) Junhoe came in, with his trademark sass face looking pointedly at you.

"Doesn't this feel like deja vu?" You laughed.

"No. I was here first." He spoke with a condescending tone, pointing at his bag, which you didn't notice earlier.

Annoyed by his attitude, you rolled your eyes and grabbed your bag, walking towards the door. You were about to pull the door open when Junhoe unexpectedly grabbed your wrist to stop you from leaving. You turned to look at him, dumbfounded.

"What are you doing?"

He blinked. Then, as if suddenly realizing the situation, he immediately let go of your wrist.

"Uh, I just wanted to talk." He rubbed his nape awkwardly, giving you a slight smile.

You were surprised. This was the first time you'd seen him like this and, well...

...it was cute.

"So, what triggered the sudden change of mood, Mr. Oh-So-Popular?" You asked teasingly as you sat cross-legged on the floor, right across him.

He scowled, "Hey, I'm trying to be nice here. Don't push it."

You laughed while putting your hands up in surrender, "Alright, alright. So, what's up?" 

"Well," he started off, biting his lips and rubbing his nape again, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for being a jerk all the time. My hyungs did scold me about it a few times, but I never really listened to them."

"And what brought on this apology? Maybe free ice cream from Bobby-oppa? Or a new snapback from Hanbin-oppa?" You stared at him while hiding your amusement. Seeing him like this was definitely cute. You even enjoyed teasing him.

"What? No!" He answered, flustered. "I really wanted to apologize. Really."

"I was just messing with you, June." You laughed. "Alright, apology accepted," you smiled at him.

"So, friends?" You asked him, smiling while extending out your hand.

He looked a bit surprised, but he shook your hand and smiled.

"I heard you and Junhoe are on good terms now. Since when did you two become so close? I wouldn't be surprised if you two become a couple soon." Donghyuk teased you as you scrolled through your music, finding a good song to choreograph.

"Shut up." You threw a pillow at him, while he just chuckled.

"You know, he's been less y since you two made up," he poked your side. You squirmed, since  you were ticklish.

"So...? What's that got to do with me?" You raised an eyebrow at him.

"It has everything to do with you," he replied, waving his hands exaggeratedly while grinning a lot. 

"Kindly explain." You raised an eyebrow at him.

"I think he likes you." Donghyuk straightforwardly said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Which, it isn't.

"Yah, Kim Donghyuk!" You shouted. "What are you saying? Are you pulling a prank on me, huh? Yah, answer me!" 

By then, Donghyuk was lying on the floor, clutching his stomach with tears falling from his eyes from laughing way too much.

And Junhoe, with impeccable timing as usual, came in asking, "What's so funny?" 

"None of your business." You answered, turning around and continuing looking for music.

You were half expecting a snarky reply from the king of sass himself, but you were only greeted by complete silence, and when you turned around, bot of the boys had disappeared.

You shook your head amusedly, wondering what the boys were up to, and you got back to working.

"Hey Donghyukkie, hey June," you greeted them as you entered the studio for another practice day. 

"Oh, uh, hi Soo Gi." He awkwardly replied, while Donghyuk who was just standing beside him, snickered, which earned him a slap on the arm from the former.

"Are you alright, Junhoe?" You seriously asked him. You were worried. He's been so awkward and just not himself for days, you kinda miss his cockiness and his arrogance.

"Just a bit under the weather, but I'm alright. Shall we start the practice?" He asked without even looking at you.

"No, we shall not start the practice unless you tell me what's going on. We're friends, right?"

Junhoe sighed and looked at you with pained eyes.

At this point, Donghyuk, being the wise guy he is, silently slipped away to let you two talk it out. He even took the liberty of guarding the door in case anyone decides to interrupt your "alone time", according to him.

"That's what's going on, Soo Gi! We're friends! We're just friends!" Junhoe suddenly shouted, frustrated.

"What, am I not good enough to be your friend? Then why did you even apologize in the first place, you jerk!" You yelled back.

"That was not what I meant, dammit!" He sighed, "That was not what I meant, Soo Gi." He said, almost whispering.

"Then, by all means, explain what you meant." You replied with your arms crossed, pokerfaced.

 "I can't." He looked at you, and you saw all the rage in his eyes. You saw the sadness, the longing. You wanted to just hug him and make him forget all his problems, but at the same time, you wanted to punch him repeatedly in the face, because he just kind of told you that you were his problem. Like, really?

You sighed, "I understand." You turned around, about to go out, when you felt him wrap his arms around your waist and bury his face in between the crook of your shoulders, which you thought, must've been hard since he was tall, and you were kinda short. You were shocked that he, Goo Junhoe, would do such a thing, but it gave you butterflies all over, and you can't even deny it.

"I'm mad because I keep feeling like I have butterflies inside every time I see you, and I feel like I'm going to faint. That is so not manly. Everytime I hear you sing, it makes me want to melt. Everytime I see you dance, it just makes me want to kiss you. I hate how you just shrug it off when people compliment you, because you're amazing, and you deserve every compliment you receive. I feel like punching my hyungs everytime you call them oppa, because you never do that to me even though I am older than you. I shouldn't even think of my hyungs that way, but you make me think of them that way. I tease you a lot, because that's how I show my affection for people whom I care for. I hate how easy it is for you to be so close to the other members. I hate how close you and Donghyuk are. I get jealous easily. I'm annoyed that Donghyuk told you that I like you, because I wanted to be the one to tell you how I feel. I'm scared that if I confess, we'd be more awkward than we already are. I'm irritated that you just keep on repeating that we're friends, because honestly, I want us to be a lot more." He whispered the last part.

You felt like throwing up from all the butterflies partying and the fireworks happening inside you. You cannot believe that Junhoe just confessed to you, while back-hugging you. You felt like you died and went straight to heaven.

You gently pried off Junhoe's arms off you, and turned around to face him. 

"Is that all?" You asked, pokerfaced.

You saw that his face fell, and his mood immediately shifted to its usual iness.

"Yah, I just confessed to you! Do you know how much it took me to say all that? I barely have any pride left!"

You laughed, "Now you know how it feels like when you lash out on me with your mode on."

He sulked.

"But hey, I think you already know what my feelings for you are," you grinned, and he immediately brightened up.

"Oh, I knew you can't resist my charms," he laughed, putting an arm around your shoulders.

"You're so arrogant, June." You .

"Oh, you know you like it." He smirked.

word count: 3010

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